Saint John's Magazine Special Edition 2013

Saint John's Magazine is published in the fall and winter for alumni, parents, friends and the Saint John's University campus community.

THANKS FOR THE
MEMORIES COACH
GAGLIARDI
By Dave DeLand
Thanks for all the obvious stuff: 4
national championships, 27 MIAC
titles, 489 collegiate coaching wins.
Those victories ultimately enabled
Gagliardi to coach until age 86, and
consequently made a lot of these other
things possible.
Thanks for some of the not-soobvious stuff: treating everyone with
dignity and respect, not like another
piece of meat on the football team.
Universally, Gagliardi’s thousands of
ex-players will say the same thing,
whether they were stars or the last guy
on the bench.
Thanks for putting Central
Minnesota on the college football
map. Sports Illustrated and all sorts of
other major media outlets fell in love
with Collegeville and the program
and the head coach, to an extent far
beyond any other NCAA Division III
football program.
Thanks for packing the stands at
Clemens Stadium, a.k.a. the Natural
Bowl, one of the most gorgeous
places imaginable to watch a college
football game on a spectacular autumn
afternoon.
Thanks for 409: St. John’s 29, Bethel
26 on Nov. 8, 2003, one of the most
riveting football games anyone could
ask for at any level of competition.
Thanks for the frumpy maroon
winter coat Gagliardi wore at that
game, even though it looked like
something you’d get at a homeless
44
shelter and his wife Peggy hated it.
“She bought me a different coat,”
Gagliardi said, “because she was
embarrassed by that other coat.”
Thanks for the Perfect Season, and
for the 2003 Stagg Bowl—St. John’s
24, Mount Union 6. When you look
back over the history of David vs.
Goliath matchups, David hasn’t won
very often. But he did on that day.
the field, but they can all say they
played football at St. John’s for the
winningest coach of all time—and
they can say it with pride. “They used
to say, ‘They’ve got too many guys—
you’ll never play,’ or ‘You‘ll get lost
up there,’” Gagliardi said, citing the
recruiting pitches of opposing teams.
“They’ve used all kinds of things. But
we got our share, no matter what.”
Thanks for non-contact practices.
Thanks for treating those players
With all of those players, it would have
been easy to let them beat the hell out
of each other. But Gagliardi was always
opposed to the concept: Why grind
up your players in practice? It’s easy
enough to get hurt in games.
Thanks for retiring with dignity,
Thanks for coaching from the
press box on hot days. It isn’t easy for
somebody of any age to stand out in
the sun for three hours, much less an
80-something, and retreating to the
box on occasion might have added a
few years to Gagliardi’s career.
“The hot days bothered me,” he said,
“even when I was younger.”
Thanks for getting mentioned in
elite company. Bear Bryant. Eddie
Robinson. Joe Paterno. Bobby
Bowden. Amos Alonzo Stagg. John
Gagliardi. All those names have been
used in the same sentence.
Thanks for not cutting players
from the team, even when it meant
there were 200 or so of them and that
several guys wound up with the same
number. A lot of them rarely got on
like adults, not underlings. Everybody
called him John—not coach, or sir.
Just John.
even though most people don’t wait
until they’re 86 to do it. “A lot of
people have retired,” Gagliardi said.
“Every year, a lot of good people out
here (at St. John’s) retire.”
Thanks for having a sense of humor,
and for being completely different.
You’d be amazed at how many college
football head coaches don’t, and aren’t.
Thanks for keeping football in some
semblance of perspective. That doesn’t
mean Gagliardi didn’t take losses
hard—he took them very hard—but
overall, he kept sight of the big picture.
“That’s how I survived,” he said, “by
not dwelling on things.”
Most of all, Thanks for the
memories, all 60 years of them.
It’s been quite a trip.
Excerpted from a Nov. 22, 2012 column by sports
columnist Dave DeLand, St. Cloud Times. For
the full article, go to www.gojohnnies.com/deland.